1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to installation of software in a complex environment, and in particular, to managing prerequisite relationships during installation processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a complex computing environment, such as one involving a network server hosting a variety of software applications, many complex relationships exist. For example, many software applications create and require relationships with components of an operating system. The complexity is exacerbated by the addition of software having different architectures, such as software provided by multiple vendors.
Accordingly, installation of updates, upgrades, revisions, new additions or even additional software can be perilous for other software applications. More specifically, a problem arises when an installation procedure for an application perturbs resources needed by another application. Inevitably, this can lead to troubleshooting of existing programs once an installation has been performed.
In short, it is difficult to find the best installation plan for software due to complex relationships. For example, there may be some cases where a better solution is to upgrade the release level of the installed software before installing new software.
In an effort to alleviate many problems that have arisen in the implementation of non-standard software, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has been devised and is continuously updated. The ITIL includes a configuration management data-base (CMDB) for configuration management. Unfortunately, current implementations of configuration management data-bases do not adequately provide solutions for installation problems as described above.
Therefore, what are needed are techniques for managing changes to configurations during software removal, installation or upgrades.